Marlin 1895 trigger

[victorcharlie]

I'd like to reduce the trigger pull on my 1895.  Will a lower power main spring do this, or is trigger pull determined by the sear?  What is required to fit a wild west one piece trigger?  Any comments appreciated...

[gunnut69]

Generally I advise against lighter mainsprings. They Don't affect a well prepped sear that much and can cause misfires. This is especially true in the marlin levers.  I haven't installed the 1 piece trigger you describe so can't speak to how much is involved.

[Thebear_78]

From what I have heard it is a pretty easy drop in fit.

[victorcharlie]

I have read that the angle of the sear affects trigger pull.  I understand how that will make the trigger break cleaner.  While sear work isn't recommended, if I were to buy a sear jig, is this a good one to learn on?  How do you determine the "proper" angle?  Is it possible to get the trigger pull down to 3 pounds or so?

[gunnut69]

This is a fairly good weapon to work with.  It's a simple hammer sear relationship, NOT using a disconnector or secondary sear.  The camming action your talking about is actually not totally a bad thing. It provides a bit of mechanical lock between the trigger and the hammer sear surface.  If the hammer's sear surface is exactly 90 degrees from the hammer's center of rotation, the only thing holding the trigger in position and keeping the hammer cocked is the trigger retern spring tension and friction between the 2 surfaces.  A bit of camming action thus provides a some extra measure of security.  Always start a trigger job by removing burrs and limiting the return spring tension.  A jig such as produced by Ron Powers and sold by Brownells allows you to 'dial in' the degrees of cam you wish to leave in the sear surface of the hammer.  It can be done manually but not without some chance of failure.  Limiting the engagement amount is also done to improve the trigger pull. This removes the trigger travel or slack in the trigger.  The gritty feeling you get when pulling on the trigger blade.  Engagement should be done before any angles are changed. This is the dangerous part of the operation. To little engagement and the rifle is dangerous and too much and the trigger remains gritty.  On these triggers I usually remove metal from the hammers engaement surface to set the amount of sear for the trigger sear to engage. Very seldom is a trigger pull not greatly inproved by just smoothing and removing the creep(sear engagement limiting).  I will tell you now that altering sear angles is a rather dangerous task and if donw badly you may be replacing parts..  Thats why the marlins a fairly good place to start, parts a readily available..

[victorcharlie]

Thanks Gunnut, I guess I still don't understand how this will reduce the amount of force needed to pull the trigger.  I understand how a clean trigger might make one think the pull was lower than it really is.  Right now, the trigger seems to break clean, no creep that I can tell.  I like a fairly light trigger that truly is just a squeeze instead of a pull, and with the recoil, a pull can easily become a jerk if one thinks to much about it, or doesn't think enough about it......I haven't decided yet.  I've added a limbersaver to deal with the recoil, which it does very well, groups with some ammo are around an inch, but I still think there is room for improvement in the trigger area.........I guess what I'd really like to know is if it's possible without changing springs?  

Also, do you hone freehand, or do you use a jig?